Press release from the City of Asheville:
It is official: French Broad River Greenway West from Craven Street to Haywood Road is now open to the public! Construction is nearly complete and the greenway is ready to use and enjoy — and you may even find yourself under the mistletoe during your next visit.Please take photos of you and your family and friends using the greenway and under a mistletoe art; then post them to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook now through January 16 with the hashtag #avlgreenways to share your excitement!Access the greenway through the trailhead off Craven Street beside the French Broad River. Ample parking spaces have been installed on both sides of adjacent Hazel Mill Road.This .5-mile section of greenway has a 10-foot-wide asphalt path, making it accessible for everyone —from bicyclists to people strolling with families or leashed dogs. It is open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. One of the greatest features of the greenway is the constant view of the French Broad River.As additional sections of this 2.95-mile greenway are completed, it will eventually connect to French Broad and Carrier parks. An additional segment of this greenway is slated for construction in 2017.In 2015, the City and New Belgium Brewing earned a national Partnership Award from American Trails for collaboration on this greenway. Funding partners on the project also included the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, and RiverLink, through a grant with the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund, as well as the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority.The City of Asheville is planning a ribbon cutting and community celebration of this greenway segment to be held in the spring.
While I applaud the effort and recognize all the hard work that went into getting this project done a poultry .5 miles of pathway is pathetic when you consider what we are up against. Rising rates of obesity, environmental degradation and economic disparities all exasperated by the use of the automobile and it’s expensive infrastructure should be enough of an incentive to radically change the way we view mobility. Our love affair with the automobile is destroying our communities and the time has come to end this destructive affair. It’s time we wake up to the fact our cars are killing us. We need a 9/11 like response to the terrorist that sits in our driveway knowing that it kills enough people to fill up 6 Twin Towers.